Diesel locomotive is pulled away from the VMT, heading for Clifton Forge.^The Virginia Museum of Transportation announces it has loaned one of the diesel locomotives in its collection-the Chesapeake & Ohio EMD GP7 Locomotive #5828-to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Heritage Center in Clifton Forge.
Norfolk Southern Corporation and the Buckingham Branch Railroad Company moved the locomotive to Clifton Forge last week to begin a five-year residence at the C&O Heritage Center. As part of the agreement, the C&O Railway Heritage Center will give the blue locomotive a fresh paint job to ready it for display.
"The Heritage Center is very excited to have this locomotive at our museum in Clifton Forge," says Center director Rick Tabb. "It is an important piece of railroad history and a key component of the story of the transition from steam to diesel. We are grateful for the support and contributions of the Virginia Museum of Transportation, its board of directors and staff, Norfolk Southern Corporation, the Buckingham Branch Railroad, and CSX Transportation. The locomotive is going to be an exciting exhibit and attraction to draw visitors to Clifton Forge."
Says Beverly T. Fitzpatrick, Jr., executive director of the Virginia Museum of Transportation, "The loan of this equipment is yet another concrete example of the cooperation among the rail groups in Virginia's Rail Heritage Region as we work to attract more tourists to central and western Virginia."
Locomotive #5828 is one of 180 GP7 diesel-electric locomotives built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway in the early 1950s. Power was provided by a 16-cylinder engine which generated 1,500 horsepower. The class was predominately retired from service by the early 1990s.
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